Backpacking gear list: West Virginia & Appalachians in May

This ’s a huge film look:
Gear selection Ought to Be driven by:
Seneca Creek National Recreation Area encompasses Spruce Knob, the country ’s high point, and is not like Dolly Sods and the Cranberry Wilderness. If you have hiked elsewhere from the southern Appalachian or even Allegheny Mountains, it is going to feel comfortable: open meadows guard spruce at the highest, and lush hardwood forests at lower elevations.

Temperatures. For the month of May, a nearby weather channel at Canaan Valley reports average high and low temperatures of 68 F and 42 F. Our location is a tiny bit higher (3,000 to 4,800 ft ), and therefore cooler.

Precipitation. The same weather channel reports 6.1 inches of rain in May, and Spruce Knob should get a bit more.

Daylight. Since we ’ re only 6 weeks away from the longest day of the year, we ’ ll have considerable daylight. The dirt trails can become muddy. At the lower elevations, we’ll be straightened with a thick hardwood duplex. At high elevationswe’ll find guard spruce. The understory is not prohibitively dense.

Navigational aids. Trails will be primitively signed, at least in the higher use corridors. Visibility will be restricted, aside from its occasional meadow.

Sun exposure. Between the shrub canopy and rain that is likely, sun exposure is a minimal concern.

Water accessibility. Maps depict continuing and regular streams and springs, except atop ridgelines. We found no reports of food conflicts. Rodents might be an issue at high-use campsites.

Biting insects. It s. Mosquitoes will be manageable although outside. A road is never more than a few miles off, but that really is a gently populated place — we won’t have cell service, and also now we ’re many hours from the closest medical facilities.

Natural dangers. In heavy rains, Seneca Creek will swell.

Backpacking gear checklist: West Virginia in May

We assumed springtime conditions that were normal for this location. We will update our kits, when an accurate short-term prediction becomes available.

The burden and cumulative price are on the high side:
The applicability of the gear list goes beyond 3-day trips in Seneca Creek. It might be reproduced successfully for almost any springtime trip in the southern Appalachians (e.g. Appalachian Trail, Smokies, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah, etc.), possibly with small tweaks to comply with local regulations or requirements.

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These needs to be physically easy trips for me, and I’m packaging luxuries such as sleeping clothes, a bridge hammock, along with a decent camera. I wouldn’t be surprised if my package weighs more when I leave the trailhead — if it’s rainy, I’m likely to attract an 8-oz umbrella and also 1.5-lb group tarp; and for role-modeling functions I’ll keep my meals in an Ursack.

Remember I get a great deal of equipment for free. I ’ d store the sales, When I had to pay for all and that I ’d seek substitutes out.

Total list

Summary

My counseling period starts this Friday in West Virginia, in which Alan Dixon, Joseph “Stringbean” McConaughy, Ron Bell, Matthew Bright, plus I will be top two successive intro-level 3-day excursions (May 10-12 and 13-15).

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